Smith Spurs On Royal, Triggers 4-1 Victory Over Thousand Oaks

When Edward Smith left Texas for Royal High four weeks ago, he was the new kid with the Southern drawl who was as nervous as a rattlesnake in a boot store.

Smith, a transfer from El Paso, Tex., came aboard a Royal baseball team hunting for its first playoff berth since 1978. He since has been helped by the friendliest fastball in the West, and the El Paso Kid has gained friends with each pitch.

Smith (2-1), a senior right-hander, tossed a six-hitter Wednesday in a 4-1 win over Thousand Oaks in a Marmonte League game at Royal. Smith’s effort enabled Royal (15-8, 6-4) to move past Thousand Oaks (9-7, 6-5) into second place in the league.

It’s amazing how an 80 m.p.h. fastball will develop friendships.

“At first, it was tough because there were new people, a new school, and new teachers, and I was a little scared,” Smith said. “But everything has worked out real nice.”

And leave it to a grinning Smith to bond friendships on an afternoon when others seemed interested in clenching fists.

Thousand Oaks, which lost its third consecutive game, refused the traditional postgame handshake for the second time in as many meetings with Royal this season. Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen said he kept the Lancers in their dugout to avoid further trouble in what has become a bitter rivalry.

In Royal’s 13-2 win March 30 at Thousand Oaks, Hansen felt Royal showed poor sportsmanship by stealing bases with an eight-run lead. Last year, the teams brawled in a junior-varsity game.

They traded verbal jabs Wednesday, and Jesse Rosen taunted Thousand Oaks pitcher Scott Barkman after Rosen hit a solo home run--only the fourth homer for Royal this season--off Barkman to break a 1-1 tie in the sixth. After Rosen circled the bases, he stood at home plate and pumped his fists at Barkman (4-3).

“I don’t like Barkman at all,” Rosen said.

Hansen felt much the same way about the Highlanders.

“I felt we had seen some things from them that led me to believe they might incite something,” he said.

Thousand Oaks took a 1-0 lead on Billy Hall’s run-scoring single in the first. Royal answered with a run in the third on Richard Naranjo’s run-scoring single and added three runs in the sixth on Rosen’s first homer and three errors by Thousand Oaks--which has committed a league-leading 41 errors.